


parachute

by ben76



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Family Drama, M/M, Trans Character, Trans Genji Shimada, fake business stuff, hanzo's kind of mean but i love him anyway, mccree goes by jesse the entire time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-09 03:08:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13472448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ben76/pseuds/ben76
Summary: Genji is the "problem child" of the influential Shimada family in an unnamed small town. A run in with a cute stranger in a cowboy hat derails his life in ways he could not have predicted.





	1. it's another day

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by the song parachute by neck deep. listen to it at least once, read the lyrics. it's all so good and so mcgenji :)

Some people say that the best thing about living in a small town is that everyone knows who you are, like your one big family. 

Genji would have to disagree on that point. He was pretty sure that big family feeling was the worst part about living in a small town because that meant everyone thought they knew you and had even a little bit of a say on what you do with your life, and if you were Genji and were the child of the most prominent family in town then that was multiplied by... About a hundred.

Everyone in town other than Genji’s father thought of Genji as the problem child of the Shimada family, and it didn’t help that he was trans either. His dad was the most supportive person he knew, so Genji didn’t really understand why everyone who liked his dad so much couldn’t jump on the train as well. Just going to the grocery store was hassle for him sometimes, running into someone who would always stop and greet him followed by some kind of “helpful advice” that was actually criticism. 

Small towns wasn’t all bad, although probably more bad than good. A good thing about small towns is that if something happens, anything at all out of the ordinary, it wasn’t long until every single person in town knew. There were no surprises.

This is why it was especially odd that Genji was greeted by a scuffle outside of the local co-op when he went to pick up some vegetables for dinner.

He slowed down as he approached the scene. One of the owners of the co-op was talking on the phone while the other held tightly onto this stranger wearing a cowboy hat. The hat gave the whole scene a comical look and Genji wondered if he was dreaming for a second. 

“What’s going on?” he asked as he got close enough. 

The stranger stopped struggling for a moment to look at Genji. He looked kind of goofy in the hat but behind that was a handsome face. Genji waved kind of hesitantly while the guy stared at him. 

The stranger grinned and nodded at him in greeting.

“This guy here thought he could get away with some apples without us noticing,” the owner who was holding onto to the stranger said.

Genji laughed at that, “apples?”  
“I’m hungry, they’re easy to hide,” the stranger explained with a shrug, which caused the owner to yank on his arm harder. The stranger winced and glared at him. He had a southern accent which meant he was far from where he came from, all the way up here.

The other owner hung up the phone and turned to them, “police are on there way.”

Genji looked back at the stranger, whose face was now barely masked fear. 

“Look, if you want the apples, you can have them,” he said, “and you won’t see my face around here again, if you just let me go.”

The guy was pathetic, but Genji felt bad for him for some reason. A couple apples didn’t warrant a call to the police, especially if it was just some stranger who would probably disappear in a heartbeat.

“I’m sure you guys have a lot of work to do, let me handle this,” Genji said.

The owners both gave him a look that said they weren’t sure they could trust him, but shrugged and nodded. “Go ahead, Shimada. Just know, if this kid goes missing, I’ll make sure Mr. Shimada hears about it.”

Genji nodded, but rolled his eyes as they left. He turned to the stranger who was rubbing his arm where the guy had been holding him.

“Are you gonna let me go?” he asked, “you’ll be in my debt forever, probably.”

“And what does that get me?” Genji teased, just as the sounds of sirens came close.

“Anything,” he said desperately.

“Fine,” Genji said, looking back at the cop cars approaching, “but you better go quick-”

He turned back and the stranger was already gone. He figured that would be the end of that, but, oh, would he be wrong.

 

\--

 

The next time Genji saw the stranger it was late and Genji was hiding from his family in the park. He had gotten into a fight with his brother over the usual nonsense and he was fantasizing about jumping town. 

It was a few days since the the run in at the co-op and he was swinging when he heard loud footsteps as if someone was running through the woods toward him. He looked up curiously to meet eyes with the cowboy hat wearing stranger from the co-op.

The stranger stopped in his tracks, a few feet away from the swing set that Genji was sitting on lazily pushing on the ground. He stopped his pushing and the stranger stared at him, wide eyed before his face slowly melted into a smile.

“You’re the kid who set me free, right?” he asked.

Genji shrugged, “maybe. I’m not a kid, though.”

The guy laughed and walked over to Genji, taking the swing next to him. “What’s a pretty boy like you doing out all alone at night?”

Genji rolled his eyes, “I could ask you the same thing.”

“Including the ‘pretty boy’ thing?” he asked, pushing his swing so it swung closer to Genji.

“Yeah, including that,” he said.

“Well, thanks then,” he said with a grin.

“What are you still doing around?” Genji asked.

“Can’t afford to get out,”’ he said.

“You can’t afford it?” Genji said, “You’re not homeless, are you?”

“I might be,” he said, swinging forward now. 

Genji was silent, not sure how to react to that. He felt like he should help the guy a little bit, but he knew he couldn’t bring him back to his dad’s place. His brother would lose his mind, although he would like to see his reaction to him bringing in a homeless cowboy.

It would be priceless.

“Now, don’t go all silent and sad on me,” the stranger said, “I’m homeless by choice.”

“By choice?” Genji asked.

“Yeah, homes tie you down,” he continued, “I like the freedom.”

“Yeah, but you’re also poor and stuck in the middle of nowhere,” Genji said.

“Well... being a traveler doesn’t pay the bills, you know?” he said.

Genji said nothing, watching the stranger swing back and forth. Each time he passed Genji, he felt the cold night air hit his face. He knew he couldn’t just get off this swing and head back home, but he wasn’t sure what his options were.

“You wanna tell me your name?” the stranger asked, stopping his swinging abruptly and facing Genji.

“Genji,” Genji said, leaving out his last name on purpose.

“Genji...” he trailed off nodding, “Yeah. I’m Jesse McCree, pleased to meet you.”

He actually held his hand out to shake, and Genji took it. 

“You too,” Genji said, letting go of Jesse’s hand. “What were you running from earlier?”

“Oh, nothing,” he said, swinging side to side, almost hitting Genji’s seat every so often. “I thought I heard something, and people don’t usually take kindly to random men sleeping in the woods.”

“You were sleeping in there?” Genji asked, “without a sleeping bag or a ten or anything?”

“Nah,” Jesse said, “but I figured they would assume I was. I know better than to stay in the woods at night.”

“So, where have you been staying then?” Genji asked.

“That’s the reason I’m here, actually” he said, “I know someone in town who has been letting me crash on their couch while I try to make enough money for a train ticket to anywhere.”

“And how do you plan on making that money?” Genji asked.

Jesse shrugged and looked off into the sky, “if I hadn’t gotten caught with those apples I might have better job prospects.”

Genji said nothing, a thought forming in his head. Maybe he wouldn’t take this guy back to his house, but he could offer him a job.

“I might be able to help you with that,” Genji said.

“Yeah?” Jesse asked, his interest piqued.

“I could offer you a job,” Genji said, “you could be my assistant of some sort.”

Jesse laughed, “Oh, right. Assistant. Are you some kind of teenage CEO?”

“No, but my dad is,” Genji said, “well, not teenage, but a CEO. I have to run around doing stuff for him all the time, but I could pay you to do it instead.”

“And you have the money for this?” he asked, “sounds like charity to me, and I don’t take charity.”

“I could ask my dad if he needs an assistant, if that would make you feel better,” Genji said.

“This dad of yours would hire an apple thief?” Jesse asked.

“He doesn’t know about that,” Genji said, “Just take the offer, or you can continue being stuck here where you’re a wanted criminal.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Jesse laughed, “I’m used to that, but sure. I’ll take your little charity job, but only because I like you.”

“Okay, you start tomorrow,” Genji said, “do you have a phone?”

“Yeah,” Jesse said, “You want my number?”

“Well, yeah, so I can call you,” Genji said, taking out his own phone and handing it to Jesse so he could put his number in.

After Jesse hands it back to him, Genji gets up from the swing and turns to Jesse, “I’ll call you tomorrow and tell you where to meet me.”

“Okay,” Jesse nods, leaning back on the swing. “I’ll be waiting anxiously.”

“Of course,” Genji rolls his eyes, “See you tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading, comments keep me going so... :)


	2. it bores me

The day after, over breakfast, Genji explained the situation to his brother and father. He figured he already knew what his brother would say, but he thought maybe his dad could help him out.

“You hired an assistant?” his brother, Hanzo asked incredulously. “Why would you need an assistant, it’s not like you spend anytime actually... working.”

As predicted, so Genji didn’t bother with a response, instead he waited for his dad’s reply.

“I have to admit, I am confused why you would need an assistant as well,” he said, “but, if that’s what you wanna do with your money.”

“His money?” Hanzo laughed, “Right.”

Genji continued to ignore his brother and said to his father, “if I’m being honest, I just want to help the guy out. He needs the money.”

“Of course, how nice of you,” his dad said, “I think I’ll be able to find some things around the office he can do, make it worth the money.”

“Thanks, dad,” Genji said, bowing slightly before getting up from the table. “I’ll see you at the office.”

His dad nodded in reply, turning his attention to Hanzo as Genji left the room to get ready for the day, but first he had to call Jesse.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Jesse greeted him on the other end of the phone, “what’s the plan, boss?”.

“You can meet me at the office, I got my dad to agree to give you some jobs around there,” Genji said.

“The same dad that those grocers threatened to call?” Jesse asked.

“Yeah, that wasn’t really a threat,” Genji said, “My dad’s not bad.”

“I hope so,” Jesse said, “Where’s the office?”

“Right by the grocery store actually,” Genji said.

“Oh great, is this a trap?” Jesse asked.

Genji laughed, “don’t worry about it, I’ll be there.”

Jesse let out an exaggerated sigh, “That makes me feel ten times better. See you there, boss.”

Genji hung up and proceeded to get ready for the day, and when he was done he headed into town shortly after his dad and brother had left. He hated spending more than a moment with his family, so he always made it a point to leave after them so he didn’t have to take the five minute ride into town with them. 

Walking would do just fine.

He was met by a confused looking Jesse standing outside of the only office building in town, and the home of his family business. 

“You know, you didn’t actually tell me where the office was,” Jesse said when he saw Genji.

“Sorry,” Genji said, “I thought it was pretty straight forward. There’s only one office building.”

“You know, I’m not from here,” Jesse said, “How would I know that?”

Genji shrugged, “sorry. Ready to work?”

“No,” Jesse said, “I was kind of hoping you had changed your mind and instead you’d just give me the money and we’d hang out, but if that’s not the case... I guess I’m ready.”

“I thought you didn’t want charity?” Genji said.

Jesse frowned, but followed Genji into the office. Genji hadn’t actually been in the office in a few days, after a fight he had had recently with Hanzo he was avoiding the palce like the plague. 

The secretary greeted him warmly, “Long time no see, Genji.”

Genji nodded in response before leading Jesse to the elevator. Jesse following while taking in the scene. The office space was such a contrast to the town’s overall aesthetic, modern and clean, compared to the more rustic feeling the small town had.

“You must be pretty rich, huh?” Jesse asked as the elevator doors closed and Genji selected the floor for the main offices. 

“Yeah, I guess so,” Genji said.

They didn’t say much on the elevator ride up. The doors opened to an open-ish office space. There were desks clustered together in groups, an area on the side that led to the kitchen and lounge area and then a few private offices. The idea was that one day Genji would have his own private office, but he wasn’t so sure about that lately.

“Snazzy,” Jesse said as he followed Genji across the office. A few people greeted Genji, some warmly and some... not so warmly. Genji couldn’t deny that a few of his father’s employees didn’t like him or agree with his lifestyle, aka they were closed minded dirtbags.

Jesse leaned in and whispered, “guess some of these guys don’t like you too much, huh?”

Genji shrugged, “you could say that.”

Jesse nodded and smiled at him, which definitely did something to Genji’s stomach but he would consider that later. 

He knocked on his dad’s office door, “It’s me, dad.”

“Come in,” his dad replied.

“Hey,” Genji said, entering the office with Jesse following him. 

“This must be the new hire,” his dad said, greeting Jesse with a polite bow, “I’m Sojiro Shimada. You can call me Sojiro.”

Jesse looked confused as he tried to calculate whether or not he was supposed to bow back or offer his hand or whatever, in the end he gave an awkward bow that was kind of cute.

Genji’s dad smiled, clearly amused. “Well, why don’t we find you something to do.”

Most of the business was digital now, but somehow Genji’s dad still found some paperwork that had to be scanned, uploaded to the cloud, and then filed in a box to be sent to storage. 

“We have a lot of cleaning to do around here,” he said, gesturing to the boxes that occupied the corner of the mailing room. 

Jesse nodded, but his face said he was not looking forward to this task.

“I’ll help,” Genji offered.

Jesse turned to him and grinned thankfully, “now that sounds more fun.”

Genji’s dad looked at the two of them with a small smile before leaving to go back to his office, leaving the two of them alone. 

“Okay, let’s get to work,” Genji said.

They crossed the room and Jesse grabbed one of the boxes, putting it on the table that was next to them. He took the lid off and let out a low whistle while shaking his head.

“This is gonna take all day, I reckon,” he said.

Genji shrugged, taking a stack of papers from the box and flipping through them. They all had boring, professional looking titles. Financial reports, receipts, all that business nonsense. 

“It will if we don’t get to it,” Genji said, starting to regret this whole plan. He could just abandon Jesse to do it on his own, but he didn’t really have anything better to do so he took the first sheet and turned to the scanner.

“You know how to work that, right?” Jesse asked.

“Of course,” Genji said, starting the machine up. Jesse nodded and started to organise the papers into piles that Genji could only guess what they were based on.

“I thought you said you usually ran errands?” Jesse asked.

“I do,” Genji said, “That’s what I doing at the co-op at least, I think my dad just wants you to feel like you’re actually working. I guess he did need this done...”

Genji trailed off as he scanned the first paper. 

“Well, running around might be more fun,” Jesse said, carefully looking over a paper, “To be honest, I don’t know what half of this nonsense is about.”

He tossed the paper on top one of his piles and continued to do the same to the next. Genji watched him, amused. “Maybe you should do this, and I’ll organize.”

Jesse shook his head, “pretty sure I’ll break that thing if I get too close.”

“It’s not hard,” Genji said as he replaced the paper he just scanned with a new one.

“Nah, I’m good,” Jesse said, “So, you’re kind of like royalty in this town, huh?”

Genji didn’t even bother denying it, “well, we’re the best thing to happen to this little place, so yeah. I guess.”

“Must be nice,” Jesse said.

“Not even close,” Genji said, “that means everyone thinks they know me, or gets any input in my life.”

Jesse stopped looking at the papers and watched Genji for a moment, “I’m guessing you’re the problem child.”

Genji laughed, “yeah, you could say that. The darling daughter turned son who doesn’t want a slice of the family business, you could say a few people took issue with that.”

Jesse grinned, “what nonsense. If it means anything, I think you’re great.”

“That helps,” Genji said with a laugh.

Genji was tired of talking about himself so he flipped the topic onto Jesse, “So what about you? What’s your story, why’d you choose to be homeless?”

Jesse was quiet for a moment before saying, “well. It wasn’t exactly a choice at first.”

Genji said nothing, waiting for more as he continued scanning the papers that Jesse had organised into what he believed to be the financial pile.

“Bad family situation, you know?” jesse shrugged.

“Okay, I won’t pry,” Genji said, getting the hint. “I wish I could just leave.”

“Why can’t you?” Jesse asked, “This ain’t a cult, is it?”

Genji laughed, “No. It’s just, you can’t be the son of the Shimada family and just leave, you know?”

“No, I don’t know, actually,” Jesse said, “They’re not holding you hostage, you’re an adult.”

“Okay, you don’t understand,” Genji said, “That’s fine.”

Jesse said nothing else but watched Genji as he worked. The machine was acting up and Genji was getting frustrated, by not just the machine but by the fact that Jesse was right and yet... he was wrong.

“Here, let me help,” Jesse said.

“What happened to breaking it,” Genji said, but stepping away from the machine anyway.

“I think at this point, you want it to break,” Jesse said.

Genji laughed, “yeah... Then maybe we’d get something else to do.”

Jesse started poking at the machine and said, “you know, you don’t have to help me.”

“I have nothing better to do,” Genji said.

“Well, I think this thing is working,” Jesse said with a smile.

Genji looked at it, and Jesse was right. The page scanned. 

“I guess you’re actually a tech wizard, huh?” Genji teased.

Jesse laughed, “Yeah, guess so.”

“So why don’t you scan, and I sort?” Genji asked.

“Fine, fine,” Jesse conceded, “I’ll scan.”

They switched places and silently worked for a while. Every so often Jesse would turn to grab a paper and smile at Genji, like they were sharing a secret joke. Sorting the papers was tedious, but Jesse’s presence made it almost kind of fun. It didn’t feel like Genji was working at his dad’s office, it felt like maybe him and Jesse were interns at who knows where. 

Anywhere far from where they actually were would be good for Genji.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading :) leave a comment, kudos, or whatever if you liked it. give me the drive to continue.


	3. are you ready?

After an hour or so of mindlessly scanning and sorting, Genji’s dad interrupted their flow with a request that they run to the deli to pick up lunch for the employees. 

“Now there’s a real job,” Jesse said, grabbing the list of requests happily.

Genji was happy to get outside at least, and get away from the office. That was probably the longest he had spent in there for months, which he told Jesse as they made there way across the street to the deli.

“I’m not trying to push,” Jesse said, “but, if you really hate it there that much, why don’t you get a different job.”

Genji couldn’t help but laugh at that idea, Hanzo would surely lose his mind if Genji so much as mentioned working somewhere else.

“Why would I work when my dad will pay me for not working,” Genji joked.

“Haha,” Jesse said, holding the door open for Genji, “Seriously. You could work here, I bet.”

Genji shushed him, “don’t be so loud. There’s no such thing as a secret around here.”

“A secret?” the guy at the counter greeted them, proving Genji’s point.

“It’s nothing,” Genji said, “We’re here’s for dad’s order.”

“Of course,” the deli guy said.

Jesse handed them the list and they stepped aside as the deli people put together there order.

“I think I’m starting to understand why you hate this place,” Jesse said as he leaned against the wall, “I’d get claustrophobic too.”

“I just have to endure it over the summer,” Genji said, “I go back to school in the fall, and once I graduate I can do whatever I want.”

Jesse nodded slowly, pondering something, “why not now?”

“I just... Can’t,” Genji said, “Now can we talk about something else.”

“Okay...” Jesse said, “I have an idea.”

“What is it?” Genji asked skeptically.

“Let’s do something fun tonight,” Jesse said, “let’s go out of town, anywhere.”

“Okay,” Genji said, “that might be the best idea you’ve had yet.”

Jesse grinned, “awesome. I wanna see what you’re like away from this place.”

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Genji said. “I’m not that fun.”

“We’ll see,” Jesse said just as their order was called out. 

Genji just shook his head with a smile in reply, leading the way back to the office as Jesse followed him.

It really wasn’t far back to the office, but Jesse lingered outside the steps.

“What’s wrong?” Genji asked.

“I should have mentioned my bad history with keeping jobs,” Jesse said, “I don’t like working much.”

Genji shook his head, laughing, “really? Does anyone?”

“It’s too nice of a day to be stuck in an office all day,” Jesse said, gesturing around him with the bags of food still in his arms.

Genji entertained the idea for a moment, he wouldn’t mind himself skipping out on the rest of the day but the picture of his dad waiting for him in his head pushed the thought out.

“Let’s go,” Genji said, turning around and going in, just hoping Jesse would follow him, which he did.

“So this is what being in the workforce is like?” Jesse said as they waited for the elevator, “I hate it.”

“Me too,” Genji said.

After a few more hours of brain numbing work, Genji left Jesse to continue scanning on his own as he got them both something to drink. Jesse was so involved with the scanning process that he just nodded in response when Genji asked if he would be fine alone. 

Greeting him in the kitchen, unfortunately, was Hanzo also making himself some tea. Genji ignored him as per usual as he navigated around him to get to the electric kettle. Hanzo noticed him, but said nothing for a moment as Genji poured himself and Jesse mugs of hot water for tea.

“You know,” Hanzo said finally, “if I knew all it was gonna take to get you back in the office was to bring in an attractive homeless cowboy, I would have done it long ago.”

“So funny,” Genji said, shaking his head and continuing to make his tea.

“Seriously though,”’ Hanzo continued, stepping closer to Genji, “It’s nice to see you here again. We missed you.”

Genji eyed Hanzo suspiciously, but all Hanzo did was smile and put an awkward hand on Genji’s shoulder before leaving the kitchen, leaving Genji feeling like somebody had put his brain in a blender. The worst part was that Hanzo was probably being sincere, despite how annoying that was.

Genji still hadn’t shooken the mixed up feeling when he returned to Jesse in the mailroom.

“You alright?” Jesse asked, immediately reading Genji’s bad mood.

“I’m fine,” Genji said, “it’s just my brother. He’s so weird.”

Jesse laughed, “brother’s usually are, huh? I wouldn’t know myself, not having one and all.”

“Only child?” Genji asked.

Jesse nodded, turning back to the scanner.

“Lucky,” Genji said.

“I’d disagree,” Jesse said, “but maybe.”

 

\---

 

“Are you ready to run away with me?”’ Jesse asked later, as they packed up to leave for the day.

“Run away?” Genji asked, “that’s what this is now?”

“It’s whatever you want it to be,” Jesse said, “but I prefer the term running away.”

Genji liked that term as well, even if it was just for one night. 

“What were you thinking in terms of destination?” Genji asked.

“That, my friend, is a surprise,” Jesse said.

Genji raised an eyebrow at him, “I don’t like surprises.”

“Genji, if you’re gonna get used to the life of a runaway,” Jesse said, “You’re going to have to loosen up a bit, which means going with the flow.”

Genji laughed, “you’re ridiculous. I’m not running away.”

“For one night,” Jesse said. “Anyway, it’s one of my favorite places. You’ll love it.”

“Hopefully,” Genji said.

Jesse laughed, “you know, you can try being optimistic as well.”

Genji just shook his head, saying nothing else as they finished packing up and left for the elevator. As per usual, Genji’s dad and Hanzo were still working in their offices. Genji can’t imagine they actually had anything to do, but what was he to know?

They took the elevator down with a bunch of the other employees who kept giving Jesse odd looks, to which he would reply with a smile. Genji watched this and felt the now familiar feeling in his stomach.

He liked the guy.

 

\---

 

Jesse’s favorite place turned out to be the beach.

Jesse wouldn’t let Genji see the bus ticket, although Genji had to pay for it since Jesse was still very poor. 

“You must really trust me to blindly by me a bus ticket,” Jesse said as they got on the bus.

“If you ended up murdering me and dumping me in the ocean,” Genji said, “that would be better than staying here.”

“That’s really morbid,” Jesse said.

“Sorry, but it’s true,” he said. “You wanna give me a clue, at least?”

“Uh...” Jesse thought for a moment, and Genji tried not to focus too much on the spot where there thighs were touching.

“It’s nice,” Jesse said.

“That’s the clue?” Genji asked.

“Yeah, it’s nice,” Jesse said, “peaceful.”

“Peaceful?” Genji asked, doubtful, “so we’re not going to be having a rager tonight then?”

“Well, we could,” Jesse said, “there’s a special kind of peace in a rager.”

Genji laughed.

“I think you’ll like it,” Jesse said, “is that good?”

“That’s not a clue,” Genji said, “but okay.”

Jesse smiled and pressed his thigh to Genji’s, “just wait.”

Genji nodded, looking out the window. He wasn’t really looking at anything, he was really focusing on Jesse’s presence, now so very close next to him. He didn’t know it, but Jesse was watching him as well.

Genji wasn’t aware how much time passed in silence when Jesse pointed out the window, leaning over him, and said, “see that sunset?”

Genji nodded, “yeah.”

“Pretty, huh?” Jesse said, leaning back again in his own space.

Genji noticed his other surroundings too, and he could tell they were heading to the ocean. He had gone this way a few times before as a kid, on family trips back when his mom was alive. He remembered playing roadtrip games with Hanzo in the back seat.

Times were much simpler then.

He turned to Jesse, “Let’s play a game, to pass time.”

“What did you have in mind,” Jesse asked.

“Uh...” Genji thought of the games he would play with his family like 20 questions, bingo, I spy etc... “What about I spy?”

Jesse laughed, “yeah, sounds like fun.”

“You go first,” Genji said.

Jesse nodded, looking around the bus with a serious expression. He focused on something then said... “I spy with my little eye something that is blue.”

Genji looked to where Jesse was looking, there was a lot of blue stuff at the front of the bus. 

“Oh, okay,” Genji said, “I see how it is.”

“Gotta give you a challenge,” Jesse said.

Genji proceeded to list off every blue thing he could see from where he was sitting. Jesse laughed as he said no to each one.

“What the hell is it, then?” Genji said.

Jesse pointed straight in front of him, “that’s sticker on the window.”

“You’re kidding,” Genji said.

Jesse laughed, “what’s the point of a game if it’s easy?”

“Okay, okay,” Genji said, already taking in his surroundings, “my turn.”

They continued to play, picking stupidly small things and never guessing correctly. After a couple rounds they were both out of breath from laughing so hard. Jesse had just tried to get Genji to guess one speckle in the pattern of the bus seats.

“Look,” Jesse said, suddenly break from his laughter, point out the window. 

They could see the ocean now, barely through the now almost completely set sun. They had been on the bus for maybe an hour or more, Genji didn’t know. Jesse placed his hand on Genji’s thigh.

“I hope you like water,” he said.

Genji laughed, “I used to.”

Jesse eyed him closely for a moment, squeezed his thigh comfortingly then said, “I think you’ll like it tonight.”

Genji looked at Jesse, his chest feeling like a hot air balloon that was about to burst. Jesse’s eyes were warm and smiling, and Genji really wanted to kiss him but thought maybe it was too early for that.

They had the whole night to get to that.

Jesse seemed to agree as he looked back to the front of the bus and leaned into Genji slightly. 

“Almost there,” he said quietly.

Genji said nothing, just leaned on the window and watched as the ocean passed them and the sun disappeared into it.

It was completely dark when the bus arrived not much later. Stepping off the bus, Genji was greeted by the smell of the ocean and memories. Jesse was watching him expectantly as they walked through the bus station and on the street outside, although Genji didn’t know what he wanted to see.

It was a small beach town, one that Genji didn’t immediately recognize. When he went to the ocean with his family they stayed in their own beach house that was far from any town, it had felt like they were some of the only people on earth when they went there. Their beach house had been right on the ocean, so Genji never saw much past that.

“It’s cute, huh?” Jesse asked as they stood outside the bus station.

“Yeah,” Genji nodded, “I’ve... never been here before.”

“Of course,” Jesse said, “that’s the point. Let’s go get something to eat.”

Jesse started walking off in some random direction, or so it seemed random to Genji, and Genji followed at his side. 

“Have you been here before?” Genji asked.

“Nope,” Jesse grinned.

“Oh,” Genji said, “I thought you said this was one of your favorite places?”

“The ocean is,” Jesse said, “But this particular little town? Never been.”

Genji gave him a perplexed look, but Jesse just smiled and took his hand. 

“It’s new to the both of us,” Jesse said, “which is better.”

Genji let out an exasperated laugh, but said nothing. They walked down the street, hand in hand, until they passed a little, sad looking, diner that oddly said “cafe” on the window.

“This place, really?” Genji wrinkled his nose as Jesse stopped right in front of the place.

“Yeah, you don’t like it?” Jesse asked with a mischievous smile.

Genji eyed it suspiciously, through the window he could see booths, an old couple, and a bar that gave you view of the entire kitchen. It looked like there were only a handful of people working.

“Okay,” Genji said, “I guess... this is running away, huh?”

Jesse laughed, “hey, you’re paying so if you wanna look for somewhere more... upscale. We can.”

Genji glared at him, “I’m not saying that...”

Jesse nodded, “sure. I’m hungry, though, so make up your mind quick.”

Genji, wanting to show Jesse that he wasn’t stuck up, decided he was gonna have to risk it in this sad looking “cafe”.

“I said okay,” Genji repeats.

Jesse smiled and opened the door, gesturing for Genji to go first. Genji could tell he was thoroughly enjoying this. The waitress cheerfully greets them and tell them to sit anywhere.

Genji chooses a booth far in the corner, or as in the corner as it could be in the small room. A different waitress approached them pretty quickly and handed them menus, asking them what they would like to drink.

Jesse eyed Genji as he looked at the menu for drink options. Coffee, soda, tea, but definitely not good tea. 

“Water is fine,” Genji said.

“Me too,” Jesse said.

The waitress nods and walks away, telling them she’ll be back in a few with their waters.

Genji sighs heavily, looking back at the menu. It was full of breakfast items and a short list of sandwiches.

“Okay, why does the sign say cafe if it’s a diner,” Genji asked.

Jesse laughed, “I don’t know. I’m starving though.”

“Yeah, I know,” Genji said.

Jesse looked up from the menu and eyed Genji, “everything okay?”

Genji nodded. He wasn’t really sure why he was on edge, other than the new surroundings. He had spent most of his life in the same small town, only leaving with his family or, more recently, for college. College wasn’t much different than what he was used to, but this place was far from it. 

It was also clearly a small town, but Genji didn’t know the people in it so it felt like he was in a different country. He was also stressed by the constant smell of the ocean, which was slightly familiar, but with the backdrop of this weird town he felt out of sorts.

Jesse kicked his foot under the table, and gave him a warm smile.

“This is just the start of the night,” he says, “Let’s fuel up, and then we can get to the main attraction.”

“Which is?” Genji asked.

“The beach, of course,” Jesse grinned.

Genji nodded, “Okay. Why don’t you order for the both of us, continue this wild ride.”

“Going with the flow, huh?” Jesse said.

Genji nodded, closing his menu and focusing on Jesse. Up until now, Genji would have considered himself to be a pretty relaxed guy but he was finding out that was just compared to Hanzo. Compared to the rest of the world he had a long way to go.

Or maybe Jesse was just the most relaxed guy on earth, who knows?

They ordered their food and after the waitress left, Genji asked Jesse why he liked the beach so much.

“It’s peaceful,” Jesse parroted what he said back at the office, “When you’ve had a life like mine, the peace of the ocean at night feels like heaven.”

“Still don’t wanna talk about that life of yours?” Genji asked.

Jesse shrugged, “It’s not much to talk about. Barely knew my parents, the whole foster family thing. You know?”

Genji nodded.

“I got myself wrapped up in some bad stuff,” Jesse continued hesitantly, “That’s why I ran away, I guess. Knew I had to change something and that if I did that while sticking around, bad things would happen to me.”

Genji eyed Jesse for a moment, curious to know what bad things he got wrapped up in but decided to not push the point.

“I know you don’t wanna hear it but sometimes the best way to find what you want is to leave what you have behind,” Jesse said, “you could try it.”

Genji sighed, “I guess I shouldn’t have been so honest with you, huh?”

“Honesty is the best policy,” Jesse laughed, kicking Genji's foot playfully again.

“I’m fine,” Genji said, “where I am. For now.”

“For now,” Jesse nodded, “Okay. I’ll leave it alone for now as well. Let’s talk about something light, like... You’re favorite band.”

Genji answered, thankful for the change of topic. Although he knew Jesse was serious about the “for now” and that he’d probably bring it up again later. 

They chatted about music until their food came, and then the conversation stopped as they ate rather quickly. Genji was hungrier than he thought, so much so that the burger and fries that Jesse ordered for him tasted like five star dining.

“Not bad, huh?” Jesse asked as they left the “cafe”, taking Genji’s hand again.

Genji shrugged, “not bad.”

Jesse grinned, “next stop? The beach.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it just keep going.... thanks for reading :)


	4. fall for you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this chapter features the most innocent make out scene ever to be written and a lot more family drama ;)

The beach wasn’t far. The walked past the busier, main part of the beach until the people thinned out to no one. There were only a few other people out there to begin with, so it didn’t take long to find a quiet stretch of beach.

The part of the beach they stopped at had a big sign warning them that swimming wasn’t allowed, and to follow the arrow for the swimming beach. The smell of the ocean was bringing back memories of Genji’s dad teaching him and Hanzo how to swim, and how Genji picked it up right away which had annoyed Hanzo who had been slower at it.

“I guess my little sparrow has a little fish in him as well,” his dad had said back then.

The sounds from the few people at the beach were barely audible, the sound of the small waves crashing on the shore overtook them instead. Jesse was still holding his hand and now looking at him expectantly.

“It’s... peaceful,” Genji said, realising Jesse wanted some sort of response to the beach.

Jesse grinned, “right?”

Jesse kicked off his shoes and waited for Genji to do the same, then pulled him by the hand closer to the water. They got close enough that the waves came up and just barely touched their toes.

The chill form the water at his feet made Genji jump back a little, garnering a laugh from Jesse.

“It won’t hurt you,” he said.

Genji rolled his eyes and stepped forward, getting his feet completely in the water now.

“I was just surprised,” he defended himself.

“Sure,” Jesse said, staying where he was and watching Genji.

Genji turned to the ocean and watched the waves roll in, letting the noise fill his mind. It really was peaceful.

Suddenly there were hands on his waist, and he jumped, pulling both him and Jesse into the water. 

They were completely soaked as they sat, laughing, in the water.

“I was trying to be romantic,” Jesse said through his laughing.

“I’m sorry,” Genji said. 

They sat there, in the water, for a while. Nothing but the sound of the waves and the distance screams of teenage delinquents filling the space between them. 

Genji knew what was coming next.

They caught each other’s eyes and the air felt electric as Jesse reached out, grabbing Genji by the waist again and pulling him closer. Genji met him halfway, pressing his lips to Jesse’s. The chill of the water contrasted against the warmth of Jesse, which was exhilarating as their kiss deepened.

Genji never wanted the kiss to end, but they had to breath sometime. 

When they reluctantly came up for air, Genji was practically laying in the shallow water with Jesse halfway on top of him. They were breathing heavily as they lay there, staring at each other with warm eyes.    
“Wow,” Jesse said, a slow smile coming to his face.

Genji just smiled back and pulled Jesse back in for another kiss and they lay there, getting completely soaked with water and sand, kissing for what felt like an eternity and yet not long enough.

A wave came crashing over them, interrupting their kiss and covering Genji completely. Jesse laughed as he jumped up, helping Genji up along with with him and pulling them both back onto the sand.

Genji was sputtering, but laughing as well. They collapsed on the sand, giggling like teenagers.

Jesse pulled Genji close and said, “now that’s what I call going with the flow.”

Genji laughed and cuddled into Jesse, “I guess so.”

They were silent for a moment, just enjoying each other’s presence and warmth.their wet clothes made the evening breeze feel even chillier than it was, so Genji pressed in closer to Jesse.

“I don’t want to go home,” Genji said.

Jesse nodded, looking off at the sky, “we don’t have to.”

“You don’t have to,” Genji corrected.

Jesse sighed, turning to look Genji in the eyes, “what’s keeping you there? All tied up, like some kind of hostage victim?”

Genji looked away, at the ocean. 

“It’s all I’ve ever known,” Genji said, “I can’t just abandon it.”

Jesse said nothing, watching Genji closely, clearly pondering something. He stayed silent, though, and instead pulled Genji closer. They both said nothing, just stared at the stars pondering life to themselves.

“What’s next?” Genji asks after a while.

Jesse shrugged, “didn’t plan anything after this.”

Genji shook his head, amused. He checked his phone for the time, it was later than he thought. Turns out they’ve been on the beach for a good minute, his dad was probably wondering where he was.

Hanzo was probably losing his mind.

Genji smiled at that, then stood up. 

“Huh?” Jesse said, not expecting Genji to move clearly.

Genji held out a hand to help him up, which he accepted. 

“Let’s go back,” Genji said.

Jesse looked sad, but didn’t put up a fight. They walked to the bus stop, hand in hand and waited for the next bus back into town. While they waited, Jesse entertained Genji by telling him stories of his misadventures as a runaway.

Genji doubted they were all true, but humored Jesse anyway. 

On the ride back, Jesse fell asleep with his head on Genji’s shoulder and Genji spent the ride looking out the window and watching for home. He texted Hanzo to let him know that he was on his way home, to which Hanzo replied with “where did you go?” which Genji ignored.

Running away was nice, for a few hours, but life couldn’t stop forever.

 

\---

 

Genji got back to a dark, quiet house. Everyone seemed to have gone to bed, until Genji ran into Hanzo outside his bedroom. He seemed to be waiting for Genji, he was just on his phone scrolling mindlessly until he heard Genji.

“You didn’t have to wait up for me,” Genji said.

“I know,” Hanzo said, “just wanted to make sure you got home okay. It’s late.”

“I’m not a kid,” Genji said.

Hanzo chuckled, “I know. I forget sometimes... Where’d you go so late, anyway?”

“None of your business,” Genji said.

Hanzo’s carefree facade slipped, his forehead wrinkling, clearly annoyed, “you know... we could have a civil conversation just once. I’m not trying to interrogate you.”

Genji, who had opened his door already and was planning on ignoring whatever else Hanzo had to say, stopped and turned back to him. 

“Then maybe try better at that,” he said.

Hanzo gave him a skeptical look and repeated, “where’d you go?”

Genji sighed, annoyed, “I went out with Jesse.”

“Well, I knew that,” Hanzo said, “where’d you go?”

“Why do you wanna know so bad?” Genji asked, leaning on the doorway.

“I didn’t know it was odd to want to know what my little brother is up to,” Hanzo said, “But fine, you don’t need to tell me.”

He turned around, obviously tired of this conversation. He paused for a moment, turned back to Genji and said, “Just let us know next time you’re gonna be out late. We were worried.”

“I texted you,” Genji said.

“On your way back,” Hanzo said.

“Well...” Genji trailed off, “I’m sorry, I guess.”

“Thanks,” Hanzo said with a nod, “good night.”

Genji just nodded in reply and watched as Hanzo walked down to his own room. Finally free, he went into his own room and after kicking off his pants he climbed into bed and checked his phone.

A text from Jesse was waiting for him, saying “good night”. His smiled to himself and set his phone on his bedside table, closing his eyes to the recent memory of their night on the beach. He held that thought and tried to erase the previous conversation with Hanzo.

Not for the first time, he thought about how nice it would be to be away from there. After that night, the feeling of claustrophobia felt multiplied by a thousand but he pushed those feelings away and focused on the memory of Jesse’s kiss as he drifted off to sleep.

 

\---

 

The next morning, Genji’s dad was not at the breakfast table when Genji got there. Instead it was just Hanzo eating his breakfast and checking his phone.

“Where’s dad?” Genji asked.

Hanzo looked up, as if he was surprised to see Genji, “oh. He’s still in bed, he said he might be coming down with something and to go to the office without him.”

“Is he okay?” Genji asked, getting himself some tea and breakfast. 

“Yeah, it’s probably just a cold,” Hanzo said, looking back to his phone, “even dad gets sick days.”

Genji said nothing as he sat and took a sip of his tea. “So it’s just us at the office then?”

Hanzo looked up, “yeah. Don’t get any funny ideas.”

Genji shrugged, “I’m not.”

“It’ll be like a practice run of what everyday will be like someday,” Hanzo said with a wistful smile.

Genji nodded, but said nothing. He didn’t want to start the morning with a fight, so he didn’t mention that he had no intention of taking part of the business in the future, although Hanzo already knew that.

Hanzo got up, saying the car was there and that he’d see Genji at the office. Genji said continued his silence, just eating his food as Hanzo left the room. 

Today would be one of those days that Genji would skip out on the office, but because of Jesse he figured he probably had to go. Remembering Jesse, he felt renewed excitement for the day. He didn’t have to do anything at the office but sit with Jesse while doing mindless work, that wouldn’t be so bad.

If anything, it’d be fun.

The whole night before felt like some kind of wild dream, so Genji was caught off guard when Jesse greeted his by the steps of the office with a kiss. Genji reacted by looking around them anxiously, which he regretted after seeing Jesse’s face.

“What?” Jesse said after the innocent peck, acknowledging Genji’s surprise. “Did I misread last night?”

“No, no,” Genji assured him, “I just... didn’t realise we were gonna be so... public.”

“We don’t have to,” Jesse said, although he didn’t look to happy about thar prospect.

“No,” Genji reassured him with another kiss, a longer one this time, “I like this.”

Jesse grinned and took Genji’s hand as they walked up the steps and into the office building. The secretary greeted them positively, but gave a lingering glance at their intertwined hands. 

“My dad’s not gonna be here today,” Genji explained as they rode the elevator up to their floor. “So I guess we’re just on scanning and lunch duty again.”

“Sounds like fun,” Jesse said.

They spend the day similarly to the day before, scanning and organizing. Hanzo kept trying to get Genji to do real business stuff but Genji didn’t offer much more than single word replies to his questions.

“Not to pry,” Jesse said after Hanzo once again called Genji out of the room, “but why do you hate your brother so much?”

Genji gave him a incredulous look, “because he only cares about this stupid office and not about... anything or anyone else.”

Jesse raised an eyebrow, “oh?”

“Yeah,” Genji said, “He’s been that way since we were young, since the first time someone told him he’d inherit the business one day. He’s obsessed.”

Jesse nodded, “he seems nice to me.”

“You’re joking,” Genji deadpanned.

Jesse shrugged, “Hey, you know him better, I’m sure.”

Later, when the day was coming to an end and Genji was returning some stuff to the kitchen, he ran into Hanzo again.

“Hey,” Hanzo said, “It was nice to work with you today, even if you didn’t help much.”

Genji actually laughed a bit at that, “‘you are funny, Han.”

“Well, I tried to have an actual conversation,” Hanzo said, “You know, dad would love to see you put more time into the business. It’s gonna be ours one day.”

Genji sighed, “dad can tell me that himself.”

Hanzo nodded, “okay fine, I’d like to see you put more time into the business. Everyone would, it’s sad to watch you just throw everything you’ve been given away.”

There it was, the one thing everyone Genji knew had told him since he was young. If Genji didn’t participate in the business, he was throwing his life away because there was no way he could make anything of himself without it.

Genji told himself they were wrong, but that didn’t stop it from hitting hard.

Genji just shook his head in reply and left the kitchen in a huff, leaving his dirty dishes in the sink which he knew Hanzo would yell at him for later.

Jesse met him out in the office space, “hey you okay?”

“Yeah, let’s go,” he said, looking back at Hanzo who was standing in the doorway of the kitchen with an annoyed expression. The rest of the office was watching them as well, also much more conspicuously.

Jesse noticed Hanzo and took Genji’s hand, which caused Genji to turn back to him. Jesse gave his hand a comforting squeeze.

“Let’s go,” he said.

Genji nodded. The elevator ride down was mostly silent until until Genji spoke up, turning to look Jesse in the eye to convey his seriousness.

“You’re right,” Genji said, “they’re not holding me hostage.”

Jesse looked at him curiously.

“I can leave whenever I want,” Genji said, “I don’t even want to go back to college, why would I waste my time on a degree I’ll never use?”

Jesse pondered this for a moment.

“How about we go get something to eat,” he said as the elevator doors opened to the main floor, “and we can talk about all of your life decisions over a meal.”

Genji smiled, “sounds good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks again for reading :)


	5. misery adores me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> good times... and bad times...

Jesse, oddly enough, didn’t think that Genji should drop his whole life right at that moment and jump town. No, instead he told Genji that they should stay in town until the end of the summer. Jesse’s excuse was that he kind of liked the place.

“And, I kind of do need that money,” he joked.

Genji had calmed down on the trip to the cafe they were at, so he didn’t think the situation was end of the world level anymore. He agreed to Jesse’s plan and just doing that gave me a small relief.

Knowing he only had a month or so until he was free, Genji’s attitude towards life in the small town changed. The next week or so was spent at the office with Jesse, around town with Jesse, or taking the bus to another town for the night, also with Jesse of course.

Genji hadn’t really noticed himself, but he happened to spend more time actually working on real stuff at the office. His dad, despite still being under the weather, took advantage of Genji’s good mood. When he would call Genji into his office to ask him to do something, Genji would surprisingly do it with no questions asked even if it meant sitting in on a meeting or putting his opinion into some sort of business decision. 

That didn’t mean Genji was changing his mind of jumping town, it just meant he felt kind of bad for keeping the whole plane a secret from his dad. Genji didn’t have anything against his dad, but he knew if he told him he would try to tell Genji not to leave and Genji didn’t want to fight him.

Despite all of that, Genji and Jesse still adventured to the town’s surrounding the small town on most nights. Genji liked to pretend he was scoping out places to live, since he didn’t really know where he was going at the end of the summer, just that he was gonna go somewhere.

On one of those nights, Genji and Jesse went a few towns over to a big-ish city. Genji had gone to bigger cities before with his dad for business trips, but those trips consisted of mostly sitting in meetings or at the hotel, depending on his age. He had always liked the hustle and bustle, though.

With Jesse, Genji actually got to experience the city. Genji liked the city more than he liked the other smaller towns they had visited. They ate at a good japanese restaurant that Genji had to convince Jesse to try, which was much better than that “cafe” from the beach town, although Jesse wouldn’t admit it.

After eating, they walked around the city doing some window shopping. They went to a thrift shop that actually had good stuff, unlike the Rescue Mission in Genji’s own town. Genji bought a cool vintage looking denim jacket and tried to buy something for Jesse, but Jesse insisted he didn’t want anything.

They ended the night at the park, sitting on the grass while eating ice cream from an ice cream truck. 

“This might be my favorite place on earth,” Genji said.

“It’s not my usual kind of environment, but it’s nice,” Jesse said. 

“Maybe I’ll move out here,” Genji said.

Jesse didn’t say anything, just nodded slowly before changing the subject, “you’ve been happier lately, I can tell.”

Genji laughed, “yeah? I guess so. Thanks to you.”

“Well, you’re welcome, I guess,” Jesse said, “Although, you know it’s not healthy for your happiness to depend on another person.”

Genji gave him a perplexed look to which Jesse replied with a smile and a nudge, “I’m just kidding.”

Genji laughed, “you’re the worst.”

“You’re quick to turn,” Jesse teased.

“Yeah, well...” Genji trailed off, not really having a good response.

Jesse laughed, tossing his ice cream to the side and scooting closer to Genji. Genji noticed the change in position and also tossed his almost done ice cream to his side and turned to face Jesse.

Jesse smiled and reached out to wipe a bit of ice cream off of Genji’s face, which Genji replied to with a kiss that Jesse returned happily. 

“You wanna go back to my place?” Genji asked after kissing for a moment.

Jesse just nodded and kissed him again, deeper. He had his hand on Genji’s neck, pulling him closer. They sat there, kissing for another moment or two before Genji broke away.

“Let’s go,” he said.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jesse said with a grin. 

They walked to the bus station holding hands, every so often stopping to share another kiss. It was like Genji couldn’t get enough of Jesse, not for the first time either. Out of courtesy, they tried to control themselves on the bus ride back. Instead of kissing, they cuddled close while only occasionally planting a kiss here or there.

When they got back to town, Genji took Jesse back to his house. They were greeted by a  completely quiet, dark, house. Everyone was asleep, fortunately. They made their way quietly to Genji’s room.

“I told you, Hanzo’s been such an old man lately,” Genji said, leaning on his door and pulling Jesse close to him, “I knew he’d be asleep by eight.”

Jesse said nothing, just kissed him. Somewhere in their making out, they made their way to Genji’s bed, falling onto it in a messy tangle. They laughed for a second before kissing more. They were nothing but a tangle of body parts, kissing and touching...

 

\---

 

Jesse was still fast asleep when Genji woke up. It was nice to wake up beside someone, especially Jesse. Genji spent a few minutes just staring at Jesse’s sleeping face, so peaceful and so much unlike his awake self. 

Interrupted his peace was a knock on his door, which was odd since it was still kind of early in the morning and nobody usually cared whether Genji was up in time for work in the first place.

Jesse woke up then, with a bit of a jump.

“What?” he asked sleepily.

Genji shushed him and called out, “what to do want?”

“Dad went to the emergency room,” Hanzo yelled through the door, “can you get up, please?”

Genji didn’t get up, “the emergency room? Why?”

Hanzo couldn’t really hear him, though, because he barely talked above a whisper. The peaceful atmosphere was completely gone now and Genji instead felt overwhelming fear. 

“Will you please get up, Genji,” Hanzo sounded almost as scared as Genji, which made Genji even more scared.

It sounded kind of serious.

“You should...” Jesse started.

Genji nodded, getting out of bed and putting on some pants. Jesse sat up and watched him with a worried expression.

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Genji said, “just, stay here.”

Genji opened the door just enough for him to step out and closed it behind him. Hanzo was standing there, still in his pajamas with a mixture of annoyance and anxiety painted on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Genji asked.

“Dad had a hard time breathing this morning,” Hanzo said, “So he went to the emergency room.”

“Alone?” Genji asked.

“No, he had a guard with him,” Hanzo said, “He said to go to the office as if everything was normal.”

“I can’t do that,” Genji said, “He’s been sick for a while now, and now he can’t breath? I have to go see him.”

“Genji...” Hanzo trailed off, clearly about to tell him not to do that.

“I know, dad said otherwise but,” Genji said, “what if something is really wrong with him? I have to see him.”

Hanzo said nothing, just crossed his arms with a worried expression. After a moment he said, “okay. Fine. He can tell you himself for once.”

And with that, he turned and went back to his room. Genji felt for a moment like all of his muscles had frozen. He was stuck between going back to bed and praying this whole thing was a dream and running to the hospital right that moment.

Genji couldn’t believe Hanzo just let him go alone, without even telling Genji first. Genji would have gone with him. 

Finally, his muscles started up again and he went back into his room where Jesse was fully dressed now and scrolling on his phone. He looked up and after seeing Genji’s face, immediately got up and pulled him into a hug.

“Everything okay?” he asked as Genji burrowed his head into Jesse’s chest.

Genji’s reply was silence, but he figured it said enough.

After a long moment, Genji pulled away and cleared his throat before telling Jesse about the situation.

“Okay, so let’s go to the hospital,” Jesse said.

“Is it okay if... I go alone?” Genji asked.

“Oh, of course,” Jesse said, “Whatever you want, darling.”

Genji smiled at the endearment and gave Jesse a small kiss, “okay. Let’s sneak you out of here.”

“Sneak?” Jesse asked, “How old are we?”

Genji just shrugged and opened his door, checking both ways to make sure Hanzo was nowhere to be seen before pulling Jesse out into the hallway and through the house to the front door.

There was a car out front, which Genji took to mean that Hanzo was almost on his way. Genji considered the car, and decided to do the mean thing and take it to the hospital. Hanzo can walk to work if he wants to go to work so bad.

“Come on,” Genji said, leading the way to the car.

He and Jesse got into the back and the driver looked at them curiously.

“I thought your brother needed a ride?” he asked.

“Not anymore, take me to the hospital and on the way drop this guy off on main street,” Genji said, turning to Jesse he asked, “that’s close enough, right?”

“I’d walk from here if I had to,”’ Jesse shrugged.

“Okay,” Genji nodded to the driver who shrugged and turned the gear to drive, pulling out of the driveway and on the way to main street.

Before getting out of the car, Jesse gave Genji one last tight hug and a soft kiss, wishing him luck.

“Thanks,” Genji said, “I’ll text you later.”

“I’ll be waiting,” Jesse said.

Genji got a bunch of phone calls from Hanzo on his way to the hospital, along with some angry texts. He ignored them all.

Once at the hospital, Genji told the driver to go back to get Hanzo and thanked him before getting out and going into the sterile, sad, hospital waiting room.

The person behind the desk recognized Genji immediately and told him what room his dad was in. 

“I’ll let him know you’re coming,” they said.

Genji thanked them and followed their direction up a few floors and somehow found his way through the maze like halls. He found his dad in one of the private rooms, of course.

Looking at him, Genji was surprised nobody had noticed anything was wrong with his dad. He was disappointed he didn’t notice anything because his dad was visibly sick.

“Genji,” his dad greeted him in a stern voice, “I thought I told Hanzo to tell you to go to work.”

“When was the last time I listened to Hanzo,” Genji teased.

His dad laughed lightly, coughing slightly afterwards, “I’m fine, Sparrow. You should go to work, with your little friend.”

Genji shook his head, taking the seat next to the bed, “You’re not fine. I can tell.”

His dad sighed heavily, “you’re right. I’m very sick. I should have taken care of it earlier, but it’s hard when you’re trying to run a business and a family.”

“How come no one noticed?” Genji asked.

“You didn’t notice, did you?” he asked, “We’re all busy.”

“I’m sorry,” Genji said.

“You shouldn’t worry about me,” he said, “I will be fine, everything happens for a reason.”

“You’re not gonna...” Genji trailed off.

“Who knows?” his dad said, “we’ll deal with that when we get there. Although... I have to tell you, I will probably not go back to work for a while. I think I need a few days off to get better, and I wanna ask you to continued stepping up at the office. It’s been nice to see you being an active participant in the business again.”

“Of course,” Genji said, although his heart was sinking. 

He should have figured that after the amazing day he had yesterday, his entire life would burst into flames. The whole thing hadn’t really focused in Genji’s mind yet, and he didn’t really know what the whole thing was anyway.

Genji knew one thing, and that was that his dad was in the hospital and looked barely there. Genji took his dad’s hand and squeezed it once.

“Anything for you,” he said.

“Oh, sparrow,” his dad sighed, “if I had known all it would take for you to finally listen to me would to be on my deathbed...”

“You’re not gonna die,” Genji said, “I know it.”

“Of course,” his dad said, “now, get to work.”

Genji nodded, squeezing his dad’s hand one more time before getting up, “I’ll see you after work, okay?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woahhh when will this end? it's a mystery. thanks for reading again!


	6. when it gets rough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> genji struggles with going to work while his dad is in the hospital, jesse tries to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for taking a bit longer than usual to update, i've been participating in a genyatta tumblr event that you can read on here if you'd like. i'm still here tho, this fic hasn't died!

After Genji got out of the hospital, he texted Jesse to tell him to meet him at the office. The walk to the office felt like it didn’t even happen, Genji was so dazed from the vent event of that morning following such a nice night. Unbelievably, he missed Jesse already.

Genji was greet by another long hug when he got to the office, followed by Jesse asking if he was okay.

“Well, I’m fine,” Genji said, “my dad on the other hand... He wouldn’t tell me what was wrong. He just told me to go to work.”

Jesse frowned, “do you think that means he’s not okay?”

“I don’t know what it means,” Genji shrugged, “but I’m working. I guess.”

Despite the office building looking like the last place on earth Genji wanted to be, he followed Jesse up the steps. Maybe some mindless work would distract him, anyway. Unfortunately, mindless work was not what greeted him as he stepped out of the elevator. 

As soon as they entered the main office space, Hanzo was there asking Genji to join him in a meeting.

“Dad had this whole thing today,” Hanzo explained, “and now we have to do it.”

It said a lot about Genji’s current state that he didn’t fight Hanzo over this, instead he just asked what Jesse should do while they were in the meeting.

“Jesse?” Hanzo said, looking over at Jesse as if he just remembered he existed, “Oh. Uh, what does he usually do?’

“The boring stuff,” Jesse joked.

Hanzo didn’t seem to be amused, just giving him a blank stare before saying, “okay. Do that.” 

To Genji, Hanzo said, “let’s go.”

“Ask someone around if they need anything,” Genji told Jesse with a shrug, “I guess.”

Jesse gave a little salute, “got it, boss.”

Genji wrinkled his nose at Jesse, then followed Hanzo into the meeting room. Seated around the conference table were a bunch of people Genji vaguely recognised in important looking business suits.

Genji asked Hanzo what kind of meeting this was.

“A financial thing,” Hanzo said, “we’re going over profits and such, so... Just listen and nod.”

Genji took his advice and nodded, taking the seat beside Hanzo. 

Genji understood bits and pieces of the meeting because of his business classes and being a part of the Shimada family, but mostly he tuned them out. He couldn’t get the picture of his dad out of his head. Him laying in the hospital bed, the light in his eyes barely flickering. 

Genji had this sinking feeling in his chest telling him that his dad was dying, and he couldn’t stand just sitting around and waiting for it to happen. Genji had to admit, Hanzo looked miserable as well, but he was playing along with the meeting and saying important sounding business words that Genji understood but didn’t understand at the moment.

After the meeting, Genji shook a bunch of hands and got all of those “glad to see you here” comments. The same old tune.

Genji felt like he could sleep for days afterwards.

When everyone was finally gone, Hanzo turned to Genji.

“Thanks,” he said, “I don’t know if I could have done that alone.”

Genji gave him a disbelieving look, “why? I’m sure you’re more equipped than me to handle those guys.”

“Yeah, normally,” Hanzo said, “but... with dad in the hospital... It was nice to have someone familiar in their with me, is all I’m saying.”

“Well... you’re welcome I guess,” Genji said, “you did great, though. You’re a natural.”

Hanzo smiled, “thanks. You could use some practice.”

Genji rolled his eyes, Hanzo was just teasing him but he wasn’t wrong. 

“Now can I go get coffee or something mundane with Jesse?” Genji asked.

“You can do whatever you want, Genji,” Hanzo said, “I’m not your boss.”

“Okay, sure,” Genji said, rolling his eyes again, “you sure act like it.”

“Well, I’m still your older brother,” Hanzo shrugged, “now go get me some tea.”

Genji laughed a bit, mumbling a thanks as he slipped out of the meeting room. In the main office, Jesse was sitting at a desk opening mail and sorting it into piles.

“What are you doing?” Genji asked.

“Uh...” Jesse said, deep in thought as he looked over a sheet of paper before dropping it into a pile, “I’m sorting mail? I don’t know, someone told me to do this. Can’t remember.”

Genji laughed, “well, you’re free now. We’re doing a coffee run, gotta get everyone’s orders.”

Jesse let out a comical sigh of relief, “about time, darling. I thought I was gonna die of boredom, let’s bounce before they ask me to... uh, sort something else. I guess.”

Genji laughed, “yeah, let’s go.”

Once outside, after gathering coffee and tea orders from everyone, Jesse told Genji he seemed to be doing better.

Genji shrugged, “time does that, I guess.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Jesse said, “practically the only good thing time does, huh?”

Genji nodded, thinking about how time was also taking away his dad as they spoke.

“Hey, darling, everything's gonna be fine,” Jesse said, noticing Genji’s sudden mood drop, and pulling Genji close to him as they walked. “We’re gonna go grab some coffee, and then go back to the office and do something boring and mundane until we can get out of here.”

“And then?” Genji asked.

“Then we’ll do whatever you wanna do,” Jesse said with a grin and a quick peck on Genji’s cheek.

Genji smiled, just basking in Jesse’s attention for a moment before remembering just why Jesse was being so nice. 

“I think he’s gonna die,” Genji said solemnly.

“Why’d you think that?” Jesse asked.

“I don’t know...” Genji trailed off, “I just can’t shake this feeling... Jesse, I don’t know what I’ll do if he dies.”

Jesse stopped walking, turning to Genji and put his hands on his shoulders, successfully stopping Genji as well and staring him square in the eye.

“If, and I mean  _ if,  _ your dad dies,” Jesse said, “you’ll figure it out then. For now... your dad is fine and you’re here, with me, getting coffee.”

“My dad thinks I’m gonna take over for him when he’s gone,” Genji said, “I just... I can’t let him leave thinking I’m gonna be there when he’s gone, if I’m not. You know?”

Jesse looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, “Genji, you can’t put yourself through hell just because you don’t want to disappoint your dad. You’re dad wouldn’t want you living like that, I’m sure.”

Genji made a face, “you don’t know my dad very well... This business is his everything, and he’s spent so much time raising me and Hanzo to be the perfect leaders of it... Together.”

Jesse looked defeated then, shoulders slumping, “are you saying you’re gonna stay here? Because you’re dad wants you to?”

Genji hadn’t even thought that far, to the end of summer when he had told Jesse he would leave. He couldn’t do that now, that was true. He couldn’t up and leave if his dad was on his deathbed, but he couldn’t go back to college either.

He couldn’t stand the thought of not being there for his dad during his last days.

“Anyway,” Jesse said, brightening up and obviously deciding to move past the moment, “it’s all hypothetical anyway, maybe your dad just has the flu.”

Genji knew that wasn’t true but gave up, telling Jesse, “yeah. Maybe he does.”

 

\---

 

When Genji and Jesse got back to the office, they were tasked with sorting through some receipts and putting them in the proper folders. Hanzo explained that when employees went on business trips, they often paid for stuff with company credit and never bothered to sort the receipts themselves and instead just dropped them off in a pile to the financial office.

“So, why doesn’t the financial office sort them?” Genji asked.

“They do, usually,” Hanzo said, “but if we have a useless intern, might as well make him work.”

“Hey, I’m not useless,” Jesse said.

Hanzo gave him a look that said he thought otherwise, they waved them off as he left to do something that was probably actually important.

“Ignore him,” Genji said.

“Don’t worry, I am,” Jesse said with a grin, “let’s get to work.”

They worked mostly mindlessly throughout the day. Every so often Jesse would comment on a purchase that was made, either because it was funny or expensive.

Genji wasn’t all too surprised, he spent the company credit himself sometimes although he never had to submit any receipts because his dad was the boss. 

When they finished with the receipts, Hanzo told them they could go home if they wanted, probably feeling a little generous because of the situation with their dad. Genji gladly accepted the offer.

Genji would regret leaving so quickly, though, as he and Jesse stepped out of the office and onto the street. Suddenly he was face with a whole day off and nothing to do, and the thought of spending the rest of the day with Jesse while he tried desperately to cheer him up actually bummed him out.

What he really wanted to do was go see his dad.

“Crazy,” Jesse said after a moment of silnce, “I’ve only known you a little more than a month and I already can read your mind. You wanna go see your dad, right?”

Genji shrugged, but nodded at the same time.

“It feels weird to not be with him,” Genji said, “you know, while he might be... you know.”

Jesse nodded, “you wanna go alone again, or can I tag along?”

“Why would you want to go see my dad?” Genji asked.

“Emotional support?” Jesse offered with a shrug, “I ain’t got nothing better to do, and maybe we can get some dinner afterwards.”

Genji didn’t know what to say, he didn’t really want Jesse to come with him and he also didn’t want to leave Jesse. On the other hand, he didn’t want to just visit his dad for a moment again and then leave to go get dinner with Jesse and pretend like everything was normal again.

Genji was overwhelmed with the feeling of loss when he realised, even if his dad got better he knew he wasn’t ever going to be able to go back to last night with Jesse, in the park and in his bed.

He missed it already, that perfectness of ignorance to life and mortality. 

“I wanna go alone,” Genji said, “I just... want to spend some time with him.”

Jesse looked disappointed, but didn’t fight it.

“I understand,” he said, “I’ll just go... find something to do. Just text me if you need anything.”

Genji nodded.

Jesse nodded back, standing there awkwardly as he and Genji looked at each other. Jesse looked kind of desperate, like he was waiting for Genji to change his mind. 

Genji didn’t change his mind.

“I’ll see you later, Jesse,” Genji said.

Jesse nodded again, defeat in his eyes. He started to turn to leave, but stopped and turned back to Genji.

“I can’t leave without a kiss,” he said with a step closer to Genji.

Genji rolled his eyes at Jesse’s cheesiness, but accepted the kiss. After the quick kiss, Jesse pulled Genji into a tight hug. Genji burrowed his face into Jesse’s neck, just savoring his presence before he pulled away.

“I’m sorry,” Genji said quietly, “I’ll text you later, I promise.”

Jesse nodded, giving Genji another quick kiss, “I’ll be waiting.”

This time, Jesse really left. Turning to walk towards the center of town, passing the co-op where they met not too long ago. Genji felt like it had been years since that day, and he would do anything to go back to it.

Genji told himself, if he had a chance to redo the past month or so, he’d spend a lot more time with his dad . Maybe he would get introduce jesse to his dad, let them get to know each other. It made him sad to think his dad might never really know Jesse, even though he knew it wasn’t too late. He could still introduce the two of them to each other, but it wouldn’t feel right now. You don’t introduce your boyfriend to your dying dad. 

Despite that, he promised himself that he would spend as much time as possible with his dad from then on, and maybe even tell him how he really felt about the business and maybe his dad would understand, like Jesse said he would. 

Maybe his dad didn’t want him to dedicate his like to a job he had no passion for, but he doubted it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!  
> do you guys have any input on the chapter length? i feel like they're shorter than other fics but if that's fine, I don't wanna stress over it :)


	7. be your parachute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Genji finds out he can't keep running away from his problems forever...

Genji sat by his dad’s hospital later than day. His dad was on the phone, talking to a business associate and Genji was being patient, or at least he was trying to be. While he watched his dad, he wondered if his dad talking to a business associate meant he really was fine or if his dad was as crazy as everyone else and was choosing to ignore it like he wanted Hanzo and Genji to.

Finally, his dad hung up the phone and let out a heavy sigh.

“Ah, business,” he said, “it’s a joy, isn’t it, Sparrow?”

“Truly,” Genji replicated his dad’s sarcasm. 

His dad smiled, “you’ll see one day, Genji, just why it’s worth all the trouble.”

Genji doubted that but he nodded.

“Being... Sick,” his dad started slowly, “has made me think about the future of the company... when I’m gone.”

Genji nodded, waiting for more. 

“I know you don’t like working in the office much,” his dad said, “I’m not blind, but... the business needs you. It needs both you and Hanzo, you’re the heart of the operation.”

“I didn’t think a business could have any heart,” Genji said, mostly to himself but his dad chuckled in response.

“A good one does,” his dad said, “and I need you, my sparrow, to make sure that the company does not lose that heart.”

“Dad...” Genji said, “you’re not dying, right?”

His dad smiled a sad smile, “I hope not, hopefully this is all just talk... but we can never be sure. I can be sure that being sick has reminded me of my mortality... and I want to make sure that when that time comes, you and Hanzo will be ready.”

Genji nodded, taking his hands hand and squeezing it, “please don’t die.”

His dad laughed, patting Genji’s hand and saying, “I’ll try, my sweet Sparrow. I’ll try.”

 

\---

 

The next day, Genji met up with Jesse at the office. Yet again, Jesse greeted Genji with a tight hug and a kiss. Genji let himself savor the moment before reluctantly heading into the office where he would spend the rest of the work day doing mindless work and helping out Hanzo when asked.

This routine would become daily over the next few weeks. He’d go to work, split his work time between Jesse and Hanzo, then he’d go and spend time with his dad. Despite his dad insisting he wasn’t dying, he didn’t leave the hospital for a few days and, even when he did, he didn’t come back to work.

Genji could see his dad was not okay, but it was like the rest of the world had gone blind. Some days it felt like Genji was dreaming up the whole thing, because certainly someone would have done something about it already if it was real. 

Jesse tried his best to cheer Genji up when they worked together, but it was a impossible task. Genji felt guilty because he didn’t spend much time with Jesse outside of work anymore, but he’d feel more guilty if he wasn’t spending the time with his dad.

At work, Hanzo was like was robot programmed just to do business and nothing else. He stayed in his office unless they had a meeting or someone in the office needed his input on something. When he did show his face, despite trying to cover it up, he looked miserable.

One afternoon while Genji and Hanzo were working on a financial plan, Genji asked Hanzo if their dad had said anything to him about a diagnosis. Hanzo’s reply was just a canned “he’s going to be fine” reply and then he changed the topic.

Later that same day, Genji and Jesse were packing up for the end of the day. Genji had gotten into the habit of going straight home after work and having a cup of tea with his dad. Normally, Jesse would invite him to do some and he was getting used to turning down whatever Jesse despite how bad it made him feel.

That day, it wasn’t any different.

“You wanna go get something to eat after this?” Jesse asked with his usual painfully optimistic demeanor that made saying no so hard.

“I can’t,” Genji said, “I told my dad I’d have tea with him.”

“Oh, okay,” Jesse said with a heavy sigh, turning back to his work.

“Sorry,” Genji said, as usual he could feel the disappoint coming off of Jesse and it made him feel miserable.

Jesse didn’t say anything and the moment following was full of silence until Jesse turned back to Genji and spoke suddenly.

“I’m sorry about your dad, Genji,” he said suddenly, his face wrinkled with emotion, “but... I don’t understand why that means we can’t... Do anything anymore. I miss you.”

Genji’s heart sank, Jesse looked absolutely miserable as he waited for a response. It hurt to know that he was the cause of Jesse’s pain, but he didn’t know what else to say. He could choose him over his own dad.

“I’m sorry,” was all Genji could come up with, before grabbing his stuff and leaving the mailroom abruptly. He didn’t want to hear whatever else Jesse had to say, because he knew if he said anything else Genji might cave.

But, Jesse wasn’t going to give up so easily. Just as the elevator was about to close on Genji, Jesse stopped it and stepped in with him.

“Genji,” he pleaded, “can we just talk, please?”

“Okay,” Genji said, “but I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I want...” Jesse trailed off, “I want to know if there’s hope for us. If this is going anywhere.”

“‘Us’?” Genji asked.

“Yeah,” Jesse said, “Say what you want, but... I like you a lot, Genji. I don’t want to lose this.”

“My dad is dying,” Genji said flatly, “I can’t be spending my time thinking about relationships.”

Jesse’s face fell, “oh. Okay.”

Genji winced, “I’m sorry. That’s not... I’m sorry.”

“No that’s fine,” Jesse nodded, his face blank now, “I get it, you’re dad... is more important. I don’t know who I’m kidding.”

The elevator door opened then and Jesse stepped out quickly, turning to Genji one last time and saying, “I have enough money to get out of here now, if that’s what you want.”

Genji was stunned into silence, he didn’t know what he wanted but he was pretty sure he didn’t want that. Jesse seemed to take his silence as an answer though, and turned to leave.

“Wait!” Genji called after him, stopping the closing elevator doors and running after Jesse.

Jesse stopped, turning back to Genji. 

“I’m sorry,” Genji said.

“Yeah, I got that,” Jesse said, sounding both hopeful and impatient somehow.

“I don’t want you to leave,” Genji continued, “I like you a lot too, I... I don’t want you to leave. But, I also don’t want my dad to die without knowing I love him.”

“He knows you love him, Genji,” Jesse said, “your his son, how can you not.”

Genji shrugged, tears threatening to break free, “I don’t know. I just... I need him to know that. I haven’t been the greatest son lately, since high school, and... I want him to know that despite all of that, I still love him.”

“Then tell him that,” Jesse said, stepping closer to Genji and taking his hand, “say all of what you just said to me, to him. And please, tell him that you don’t want to work in the business. You can’t spend your life living a lie just because you want your dad to know you love him.”

Genji said nothing, afraid if he did he’d end up crying. Instead, he stared at Jesse’s hand wrapped around his, focusing on the warmth of the shared touch. He missed Jesse a lot and it was stupid how right he was, but it was so much harder than all of that.

Everything was just so hard.

That’s when the tears finally broke free and they came out in sobs, collapsing into Jesse’s arms and burying his face in his chest. Jesse wrapped his arms around Genji tightly, running a hand through his hair comfortingly. 

They stayed like that for a moment before Genji calmed down a bit, pulling away just a bit so he was looking at Jesse.

“I’m sorry,” he said, again.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” Jesse said, running a hand through Genji’s hair, “I’m acting like an insensitive idiot, of course your dad is more important than anything. I just... missed you.”

“Me too,” Genji said.

“What now?” Jesse asked.

“Now... I have to go see my dad,” Genji said with a sigh, “but you can come with me, if you want...”

A grin spread across Jesse’s face, “of course. Anything to spend time with you.”

Genji smiled and gave Jesse a quick kiss before pulling away from him and taking his hand.

“Let’s go,” he said.

“Right beside you,” Jesse said .

 

\---

 

Genji’s dad didn’t seem to mind too much that Genji brought Jesse over with him. Of course, Genji hadn’t told his dad the exact nature of his relationship with Jesse but he figured that was a conversation for another time.

Not that Genji thought his dad wouldn’t accept his relationship with Jesse, his dad was pretty accepting after the whole Genji being trans thing. Genji just didn’t really want to bring up him dating anyone at the moment.

They all had tea together with some polite conversation about the work day, then Genji’s dad went to rest, something he’d been doing often lately. Genji and Jesse cleaned up the kitchen and then went to Genji’s room where they did nothing more then watch some TV and cuddle a little bit.

Things in Genji’s life improved after that day, despite his dad not miraculously getting better. When Genji was with Jesse, the weight of his dad’s illness felt lighter. It was still there, but it was more tolerable. Genji’s worst moments were when Jesse would leave and Genji would be alone in his room, the rest of the house quiet and dark. It was then that the weight would crash back down.

Genji and Jesse still avoided the topic of the end of the summer, Genji was avoiding even thinking about it and Jesse was being nice enough to not bring it up. But, it was August and the days were going by faster than either of them wanted themt and the issue couldn’t be ignored forever.

Genji had bigger problem though, his dad had requested that both him and Hanzo be home for dinner one night. He said he had something important to tell them and Genji wasn’t an idiot, he knew the bad news was coming.

“You don’t  _ know _ that,” Jesse said after Genji told him about the dinner and how he knew it had to be bad.

“I love your optimism, Jesse, but please be realistic for once,” Genji said.

Jesse shrugged, “just trying to brighten things up, is all.”

Genji sighed, “sorry, I know. It’s just... it doesn’t mean much at this point.”

“I guess your right,” Jesse said, “although, optimism always helps.”

“Denial doesn’t,” Genji said, “you can be realistic and optimistic.”

“Yeah... I’ve learned that most of the time they don’t mix well,” Jesse said.

“Well, yeah,” Genji said, “ but that’s life.”

They wouldn’t say anything else about it, but, as Jesse changed the topic to something Mundane, Genji was preoccupied with his thoughts. He was trying to think of something else his dad might be telling them tonight, something not so life changing and horrible, but nothing seemed likely other than what Genji feared, which was that his dad was finally gonna reveal what was making him sick and that it was gonna be bad.

 

\---

 

Later that day, Hanzo and Genji were sitting at the dinner table waiting for their dad. Hanzo had said nothing to Genji since taking a seat next to him, he wasn’t even using his phone like he usually does, he was just staring forward with a stony expression.

Genji knew this meant that he was just as anxious as Genji was, which was comforting.

“Glad to see my two boys together,” their dad said when he finally joined them at the table, “doesn’t happen often these.”

The chef started bringing out their food as the conversation continued. None of them even glanced at the delicious smelling dinner.

“If you were at work you would,” Hanzo said, sounding surprisingly bitter.

Their dad ignored the bitter tone in Hanzo’s voice and just took it as a joke, laughing lightly. 

“Of course,” he said, “I’ve heard you guys have been working well together, which fills my heart.”

After a moment of painfully awkward silence, in which Genji wasn’t sure what his dad wanted them to say, his dad continued.

“I’m sure you're curious about why I asked you guys to be here,” he said with a heavy sigh. The sigh was all Genji needed to hear to know what the “news” was and he had to resist the urge to get up and leave and pretend that the entire thing ever happened

Somehow, Genji stayed put and listened as his dad continued.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’m not well,” he said, “I’ve been sick for a while, I haven’t wanted to tell you guys the diagnosis until we knew for sure what it meant but we know now... I have stage four pancreatic cancer. The doctors say that there is no path back to full health with this diagnosis.”

“You’re dying,” Hanzo said blankly, his face conveying no emotion.

Their dad chuckled lightly, “yes, I guess you could say that.”

Hanzo nodded and then abruptly got up and left the room. Their dad said nothing to stop him, just watched him with sad eyes. 

“Genji,” he said, turning back to Genji, “I’m sure you are hurt that I didn’t tell you sooner, which I am terribly sorry for. I know you’ve been worried.”

“Dad...” was all Genji could muster up. He couldn’t really process what was going on, the whole scene felt unreal to him. He thought maybe he was supposed to cry, but for some reason there were no tears threatening to break free.

“I’m telling you now because it’s time we start seriously talking about the future of the company,” he said. “Hanzo graduates next year, and he’ll take over until you’re ready to join him. I don’t want to leave without knowing the company I’ve spent all of my adult years building is in good hands, the only hands I’d want it in. My sons’. “

Genji took a deep breath. Suddenly, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t sit here and lie to his dying dad, he knew he had to tell him the truth even if it was just to make himself feel better.

Jesse was right, he couldn’t continue to live like this.

“Dad, I don’t want to run the company,” he said.

His dad gave him a confused look and Genji felt like bolting out the door so he didn’t have to finish this conversation, but Jesse’s voice was in his head telling him that once it was over, it was over and he wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore.

He already felt about fifty percent of the weight leave his shoulders just from saying those words to his dad. He didn’t want to run the company, and that was the truth.

“What do you mean?” His dad asked.

Genji couldn’t tell whether his dad was angry or not but he continued on, “I don’t want to run the company. Hanzo can do it alone, and I can work there sometimes but... I don’t want to run it. I never have.”

His dad’s face turned stony and now Genji knew he was mad.

“I’ve spent your whole like leading you on this path,” he said, “and you never wanted it?”

Genji nodded.

His dad let out an annoyed grunt, “okay.”

“Okay,” Genji repeated as his dad stood up, food untouched, and walked out of the dining room.

The house was silent as Genji sat alone, his mind shutting down as he took a bite of his dinner. He finished his dinner as if nothing had just happened. As if his life hadn’t just basically ended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one more chapter! sorry for the wait on this one, school sucks :P. thanks for reading, as always :)


	8. i wanna just try and live for me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in this, the final chapter, genji sorts through the mess that is his life and tries to learn how to live for himself....

After the whole event that was that dinner, Genji went back to his room. His room felt so very quiet and so very... lonely. He sat on his bed and stared at the wall, an immature poster of some boyband smiling back at him. Mentally he made a note to take the poster down later, but at the moment, the smiling faces of the band Genji barely even listened to anymore was an odd kind of comfort. 

For a moment, Genji sat there and stared at the poster and tried to pretend that it was still a time when he listened to boy bands and his dad was healthy and the business was nothing but barely a speck in the future that Genji barely thought about.

The game didn’t last long.

Genji’s phone vibrated, bringing him back to reality. Jesse had sent him a text asking him what happened. Genji couldn’t help but feel comforted that someone out there was thinking about his feelings right then, because it felt like his family couldn’t care less.

He texted Jesse telling him to meet him at the park where they met the second time. Jesse replied quickly with a “be there as soon as possible”. Genji didn’t make a move to leave for another moment. He was incredibly tired, but he also wanted to see Jesse. He didn’t necessarily want to talk about anything that had just happened, he just wanted Jesse to comfort him and to forget about reality for a moment.

Finally, he got up and started the walk towards the park. It was a walk he used to make often, after dinner when being around his family would get to be too much. Much like the night he met Jesse the second time, but since then he hadn’t felt much of a need to be alone.

Jesse was swinging when Genji arrived. Not just sitting on the swing, but actually swinging. He looked cute, pumping his legs and concentrating so hard on going higher and higher. He was actually swinging pretty high, so Genji stopped a bit back from the swingset and watched him with an amused smile for a moment before calling out “hey!”.

Jesse abruptly stopped, dragging his feet across the ground to stop the swing. Despite the fact that Genji literally invited him here, he looked surprised to see him and maybe a little embarrassed.

“You took so long, I thought maybe you were standing me up,” Jesse said with a sheepish smile. 

“I wouldn’t do that,” Genji said as he took the swing next to Jesse.

“So...” Jesse said, watching Genji curiously, “how’d it go?”

Genji laughed bitterly, “bad. Really bad.”

“Oh, shit,” Jesse winced.

Genji nodded, not saying anything else because suddenly the reality of the whole situation was very evident to him. He tried hard not to let the realisation that his dad was really going to die, and probably sooner than later, actually form in his mind because he was afraid of what that would mean.

He took a deep breath, trying to collect himself. Jesse was watching him with such a sad, sympathetic look on his face, and Genji wanted him to stop. He desperately wanted to ignore the whole situation, and Jesse’s sympathetic expression was just another reminder that this was actually happening.

And Genji hadn’t even told him anything yet.

“It’s okay,” Jesse said finally, “we don’t have to talk about it.

Genji nodded, relieved that Jesse could read the mood.

“Thanks,” he said quietly.

Jesse smiled and offered, “want me to push you?”

Genji had not expected that to be the next thing out of Jesse’s mouth, “do you think I don’t know how to pump my legs?”

Jesse shrugged, “It’s more fun being pushed.”

Genji actually laughed, because the idea of Jesse pushing him on the swing, right there and then, was ridiculous. Genji’s dad was dying, and Jesse wanted to push him on the swing.

“Okay,” Genji said, “go ahead.”

Jesse got up from his swing with a grin. He went behind Genji and grabbed the chains of his swing, pulling his as far back as he could before letting him go. Genji instinctively started to pump his legs, but Jesse yelled at him to stop.

“You can’t pump and be pushed,” Jesse said, “that’s unfair.”

Genji laughed, shaking his head, but stopped anyway. Jesse continued to push him, and Genji continued to swing without pumping. He closed his eyes and just focused on the wind hitting his face, and the feeling of Jesse’s hands pushing his back every so often. 

Suddenly, Genji was lifted harshly into the air and falling back on his swing. He screamed and opened his eyes to see a hysterically laughing Jesse in front of him. 

Genji stopped his swing and yelled to Jesse, “what did you just do?”

“An underdog,” Jesse said breathlessly, “but I nearly died doing it. I don’t think it’s meant for anyone older than 13.”

“You almost killed  _ me _ !” Genji laughed.

“It was fun though, right?” Jesse asked.

Genji rolled his eyes, shaking his head but still laughing. 

Jesse watched him for a moment, a small smile on his face, before he said, “at least I made you smile.”

Genji let out a little laugh, “yeah... I guess you did.”

There was a moment of silence as they did nothing but stare at each other with these dumb little smiles on their face, cherishing this small moment. Jesse approached Genji, who was still on his swing. Once he got close enough, Jesse took Genji’s hand and pulled him up gently from the swing.

Jesse pulled him closer by the waist, planting a soft kiss on his lips before pulling him into a hug. 

“I love you,” Jesse said quietly into the hug.

Genji took a deep breath, soaking in Jesse’s scent and letting those words sink in. He loved Jesse too, of course he did. Jesse was the only person in his life at the moment who made him feel completely content and safe.

Genji pulled away from Jesse just a little bit and repeated the affirmation, “I love you too.”

Jesse grinned and kissed him again, this time for a moment longer. Genji kissed him back, deepening the kiss and pulling Jesse closer by softly grabbing his neck. They stood there, kissing for what felt like forever. Jesse’s hands traveling from Genji’s waist to his neck, to his hair where he gently ran his fingers through it before bringing his hands back down to Genji’s waist and pulling him even closer somehow.

Genji savored every touch from Jesse, melting into the feeling of his hands softly tugging at his hair and the feeling of his body being pressed against his. 

Eventually, they had to take a breath. Genji rested his head in Jesse’s chest, breathing heavily. Jesse rested his head on Genji’s, running a hand lightly through his hair again. Their breathing ran together as they stood in silence for a moment.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Jesse said after a moment, “I could do this all night, but don’t you think we should go somewhere more... comfortable?”

Genji laughed, “you don’t think that standing in the park in the middle of the night is comfortable?”

“I don’t think standing anywhere is comfortable,” Jesse said with a laugh, tucking a piece of Genji’s hair behind his hair gently.

Genji sighed, he didn’t really want to go back to his quiet, sad house. Just thinking about it reminded him of the real problem in his life, the one he’d been trying to so hard during the last thirty minutes to forget.

“You okay?” Jesse asked, noticing Genji’s sudden change of mood.

“No,” Genji said with a sarcastic laugh, “my dad’s dying.”

Jesse’s face wrinkled in sympathy, “that’s the news, huh?”

“I knew it was true,” Genji said, “but hearing him say it... god, Jesse. You should have saw his face when I told him that I didn’t want a part of the business.”

“You told him?” Jesse asked, surprised, “tonight?”

“Yeah...” Genji said, quietly, “like some kind of monster, telling his dying dad that he’d been lying to him his whole life.”

“You hadn’t been lying...” Jesse said, “Just withholding the truth.”

Genji gave him a look, “exactly, lying. He hates me now.”

Jesse shook his head, “no way. He doesn’t hate you, he’s probably just mad for now. Give him some time, I’m sure he’ll see it eventually.”

“See what?” Genji asked.

“That this is for the best,” Jesse said, giving Genji a quick squeeze around the waist, “that you are made for different things.”

Genji sighed, “maybe.”

“Definitely,” Jesse reaffirmed, “Now, let’s go somewhere, please?”

“Okay,” Genji relented, “I’ll sneak you into my room.”

Jesse smiled, giving Genji a quick kiss, “thank you.”

Genji rolled his eyes, pulling away from Jesse finally. He already missed Jesse’s close presence as he took his hand and led the way back to his house. 

 

\---

 

By the time Genji and Jesse woke up the next morning, the house was presumably empty. Genji was surprised since it’s been awhile since his dad left the house, and he tried not to overthink the situation as he got up and made breakfast for the two of them.

Genji wasn’t much of a chef, so breakfast was just scrambled eggs and tea. Jesse didn’t seem to mind much, though, as he scarfed it down like he hadn’t eaten in years.

“This is nice, huh?” Jesse said after finishing his food. 

“What?” Genji asked.

“Me and you, eating breakfast together,” Jesse said, “very domestic.”

Genji rolled his eyes at Jesse.  

“Sure,” he said as he got up to gather the dishes.

“This could be everyday if you came along with me,” Jesse said.

“You know,” Genji said, “you don’t have to convince me. I want to go with you.”

Jesse grinned, “really?”

“Yeah,” Genji said, “I wasn’t just joking around earlier this summer, I was serious. I know everything with my dad might have changed things, but you were right. I can’t let that stuff get in the way of living my life.”

“You can’t imagine how happy that makes me, Genji,” Jesse said.

“I think I can,” Genji laughed, “although, we can’t go too far.”

“Why?” Jesse asked.

“I can’t just abandon my dad, even if he hates me now,” Genji said.

“Which he doesn’t,” Jesse quickly interjected.

“Well, if he does,” Genji said, “I still have to stay close enough that I can come back if he needs me.”

Jesse nodded thoughtfully, “I can’t argue with that.”

“Thanks,” Genji said.

Jesse got up and followed Genji into the kitchen where he left the dishes in the sink. Genji contemplated for a second doing the dishes himself, but they had someone to do that for them so he left them there. 

They went back to Genji’s room and Jesse asked if they were going to work that day.

Genji shrugged, “I guess so... I don’t know what else to do.”

“You sure?” Jesse asked, “because, you know, I’m not hell bent on going back...”

Genji laughed, “yeah, let’s go, lazy.”

 

\---

 

When Genji and Jesse got to the office, Hanzo and Genji’s dad were in their dad’s office. The blinds were open and Genji could see Hanzo standing with his arms folded, a blank expression on his face as his dad presumably explained something to him. 

Both of them looked up as soon as Genji and Jesse stepped into the office. Genji met their eyes, Hanzo looked confused and his dad looked... kind of sad. Genji’s dad said something to Hanzo, to which Hanzo nodded before leaving the office and approaching Jesse and Genji.

“Good morning,” Jesse said overly cheerful.

Hanzo barely glanced at him, instead saying to Genji, “dad wants to talk to you.”

Genji nodded, looking to Jesse and saying, “wish me luck, I guess.”

“Good luck,” Jesse said, giving Genji’s hand a reassuring squeeze. 

Genji took a deep breath before making his way to his dad’s office. His dad greeted him with a nod, greeting to the chair across from him at his desk for Genji to sit in. Genji took a seat and said nothing, waiting for his dad to talk.

Finally, his dad spoke, “I’m sorry for the way I reacted last night, Genji.”

“Thanks,” Genji said, unsure where this was going.

“I had always thought I had control of everything in my life,” his dad continued, “Including my children. I was surprised last night, shocked and, admittedly, angry. It’s not easy hearing that your son doesn’t want to be just like you...”

“Dad...” Genji started, but he was cut of by his dad.

“No, don’t worry about it,” he said, “It’s fine. I’ve had some time to let it sink in, and I’m not as surprised anymore. You never really shared much promise in the business end of things.”

He laughed a bit at this before continuing, “you always were much more... unconventional then Hanzo. Genji, I want nothing more than for both you and Hanzo to be happy and if you’re happy not pursuing this business then I guess that’s what I want.”

Genji, while listening to this, had started to tear up a bit. His dad was finally saying everything he had wanted to hear, and he couldn’t help but wish this was under different circumstances. That he had told his dad earlier, and that he would get to have this kind of relationship with his dad for longer.

“Don’t cry, my little sparrow,” his dad said, his voice soft and full of emotion, “I love you, no matter what. I hope you know that.”

Genji nodded, tears starting to fall now, “I love you too, dad. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, don’t be,” his dad said, getting up from his chair and coming around the desk to pull Genji into a hug, “everything is going to be okay, sparrow.”

It had been so long since the last time his dad had hugged him like this, it felt so unfamiliar yet so very familiar. Genji’s tears turned into full on sobs from the thought of just how little more hugs he was probably going to get from his dad.

His dad patted his back as he cried, murmuring soft reassurances every so often. When Genji finally got his composure back, he pulled away.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, “I wanted so bad to be the son you wanted me to be.”

“You are the son I want you to be,” his dad said, “just by existing, you are.”

“Thanks,” Genji said, “that means a lot.”

“Of course,” his dad said, “now, let’s get back to work. I’m sure there are a lot of exciting things I can put you and your friend to work on.”

He said that with a wink and Genji laughed. 

Jesse was waiting for Genji back in the office, sitting at an empty desk. When Genji entered the main office, he jumped up and quickly walked up to ask him how it went.

“I think it went great?” Genji said with a small smile.

“It did?” Jesse asked, his eyes lighting up, “See, I told you!”

“Oh, shut up,” Genji rolled his eyes, playfully pushing Jesse, “of course you were right...”

Jesse grinned, “well... now what?”

“We work, I guess,” Genji shrugged.

“I guess so,” Jesse said, “What’s the job today?”

Just then, Genji’s dad entered the office and approached the two of them.

“How about the two of you get me and the rest of the employees some drinks,” he said, “I could go for some tea right now.”

Jesse nodded, even throwing in a playful salute, “sure thing, boss.”

Genji hated just how cute Jesse looked just then. His dad laughed and continued on his way to a meeting room.

“You’re embarrassing,” Genji said.

Jesse shrugged, “I don’t know how to act around authority figures.”

Genji laughed.

 

\---

 

There was just two weeks left until september, or what Jesse considered the official end of summer. At work they’d spend their time talking about the first place they’ll go, floating back and forth options that sound wild to Genji but Jesse thinks are doable.

As the days passed by, Genji got more and more nervous about leaving. He’d spent his whole life in this all too familiar town, and he got kind of sad when he thought about leaving. Sure, he’d left before for college but that was different. 

This was leaving leaving, this was leaving and not coming back to live here ever again. This was leaving the comfortable familiarity for the hectic unfamiliarity of running around the place with Jesse. All of that was what he wanted desperately, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t nervous about it.

All that was without the added pressure of leaving his sick dad, who was visibly getting worse since telling Genji about his diagnoses. If he thought about it for too long, he started doubting his decision to leave despite his dad telling him he should.

When Genji told his dad about his plan, he had been happy to hear that Genji was planning to do anything with his life. He even commented on how happy Genji seemed to be with Jesse, without Genji even telling him there was anything between the two of them.

Hanzo on the other hand had a very different reaction. After telling Genji that he thought he was being childish by “running away” and that life wasn’t about “being happy”, he stopped talking to him altogether. 

Genji decided to let Jesse pick their first stop, and he told him to take him somewhere he had been before that he liked. Jesse took this job very seriously, and as they worked he would bring up a place or two before changing his mind.

Finally the day had arrived. Jesse had bought two bus tickets and decided to keep it a secret until they made it to the bus station, just like the first time they ran off together. That morning, Genji went to his dad’s room to say goodbye. His dad was resting a lot, and when he entered his dad’s room it was clear he had woken him up.

“I’m sorry,” he said, taking a seat by his dad’s bed, “for waking you.”

His dad smiled, “don’t worry about me, Genji. I wouldn’t want you to leave without saying goodbye.”

“Me too,” Genji said, taking his dad’s hand, “I’ll miss you a lot, dad. If you need me, you can call me and I’ll be right here. And if...” 

He paused, not wanting to say the thought that had come to his head, but pushing forward.

“If you feel like... you’re... you know,” Genji shrugged, trying not to cry.

His dad, thankfully, cut him off, “I know. I’ll call you, Sparrow. Please, call me as well. Tell me about your adventures. Let me live vicariously through you.”

Genji nodded, squeezing his dad’s hand, “of course. I’ll send postcards and photos as well, dad.”

“Thank you,” his dad said, “now, go or you’ll be late.”

Genji nodded, blinking away the tears that threatened to break free, “I love you, dad.”

“I love you, Genji,” his dad said, squeezing Genji’s hand with what little strength he had, “Don’t forget to have fun, my sparrow.”

Genji nodded, “thanks. I won’t.”

With one more squeeze, Genji got up and left his dad’s room. He looked back once more before shutting the door before him, giving a small wave to which his dad replied with a smile. 

Jesse was waiting for him outside by the car that would be taking them to the bus station. He greeted Genji with a kiss.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

Genji nodded, “I’m ready.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhh i'm emo over finishing this... this is the longest thing i've written in a while and it felt nice. thanks for joining mine and genji's little journey, and i hope you're not mad for the kind of cliff hanger ending. if you read my stuff, you're gonna find out i love these kind of endings.  
> anyway, again thanks for reading. have a nice day :)


End file.
